Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Don't Rub My Feet! Why Are My Dreams So Weird?


No, but seriously.

Last night I had a dream about this guy I know from high school.  We were hanging out and I was asking about his wife and family and he made me sit in an office chair and take my shoes off.  Then he told me he was going to give me a foot massage and I pulled my feet up underneath me and said ,"No thank you!!" but he kept insisting.  I finally put my feet down hoping that he'd just get it over with and he started to rub my feet and then pushed them away.

As I looked dow at him he gave me the most disgusted look EVER and said, "Your feet are so dry and gross!  Why don't you use lotion?"  I was so embarrassed, but also so mad at him! 

I woke up shortly after that and I was still thinking, "Well, you are the one that wanted to rub my feet!".

What a strange dream.  The funny part is, I haven't thought much about this person and there's no reason why I would be dreaming about them.  Also, not that I want a foot massage from this person, but in real life I LOVE getting my feet massaged- something about it makes me feel like my whole body was massaged and relaxed.  Also, I definitely do use lotion and keep my feet as clean and pretty as I possibly can.

I've gotta look this one up.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Weekend In Review

Here it is in short points and I will elaborate later:


- Laundry
- Storage Space
- Gym
- Dog Walk
- Sellwood wandering
- Grand Central Bakery Lunch
- Gym
- Baseball Game
- Hot Dogs
- 1:10am wake up call
- Early Morning Police Call
- Clean House
- Church League Softball
- Heat
- Family Dinner
- Desserts
- Dog Puke

** Updated! **

Now here are my elaborations as promised:

Friday night I started on what turned out to be a weekend full of laundry, which was actually ok.  Sometimes it's nice to have clean everything, including clothes and linens.  With the disappointment of last week (BF did NOT get the full time kindergarten classroom he was hoping for) we didn't have much in the way of weekend plans.  We did finally get a storage space for our seasonal items and large items that don't fit into our house.  We went to the gym as usual and just hung out and watched 127 Hours in the evening (which I highly recommend).

Saturday we woke up bright and early so we could help out at BF's elementary school clean up.  I packed water and a snack and my leather work gloves expecting to have to pull weeds and spread barkdust but as we drove past the street that the school is located on, BF and I made the decision that we did not, in fact, want to spend our Saturday morning doing any of that and that the school would be just fine with the million community members that showed up to help. Instead we parked and wandered around the Sellwood neighborhoods looking at homes for sale and for rent because we would LOVE to live down there.  It'd be convenient for BF since that's where he currently works and it's just the cutest dang town ever.  After our wander, we decided to eat at Grand Central Bakery since it's delicious and BF happened to have a couple of gift cards there to use.  I had the Sausage Cheese Biscuit and BF had an awesome turkey sandwich.  We lucked out and beat the early lunch crowd by minutes and had our order in before the line stretched out the door.

We headed home and decided that the gym was a must after such a hearty breakfast.  After lunch I did more laundry and we hung out with Rudy until it was time to head to Keizer for the Volcanos baseball game.  BF's parents got tickets so it was a fun family outing.  BF and I ate Volcano Dogs for our "snack" which were absolutely delicous.  Something about a hot dog/polish dog at a sporting event is much more satisfying than one at home.  When we went home I was so tired and happy from all the good food that I didn't care if I made it to the bed or not, I could have fallen asleep anywhere.

At around 1:10am I woke up out of a dead sleep to an awful screaming rant which I thought was only going to last a minute, but after a 5 minute reprieve it started again.  I cannot tell you how horrifying this screaming was.  At first, before I started listening and while I was only half aware while still waking up, I thought someone was being murdered.  But then I realized that this person was screaming a rage-filled rant to someone else who was only somewhat yelling back. I opened the blinds since it sounded like it was right outside of our window but didn't see anyone and then I realized it was coming from one of the 3rd floor folks who had their windows WIDE OPEN.  After a few minutes of trying to decipher what was going on, I slipped my flip flops on and walked outside where I met one of our other neighbors trying to figure out who and what had woken him up so horribly.  Apparently a couple was having some sort of issue at 1 in the morning and the best way for them to resolve it was by waking up the whole complex.  I tried to go back to bed, but the screaming and door slamming persisted so I called the non-emergency police line to report a domestic dispute.  The police were there in no time to help sort out the situation and luckily they only called me to verify the address as they were pulling up and I had no further involvement.  The worse part of the whole thing is that there are small children in that apartment. I don't care what you do to yourself, but when you act like an asshole in front of your child I have to draw the line and call for back up.

It took a while for me to settle back down and go to sleep, and even then I only slept restlessly.

Sunday morning was a "rest" day so no gym, but I was in a hyper-motivated state of mind and cleaned the whole house so thoroughly you could have declared it a Clean Room and manufactured chips in it (totally dorky Intel reference).  Seriously, every single thing we owned got cleaned.  I did some more laundry and then we headed out in the heat of the day to play on my parents' church league co-ed softball team. BF played and I was there for support (I don't really play softball).  It didn't feel so bad in the shade, but as the sun moved, my shade disappeared and we were red hot by the end of the game and ready to be back inside. 

After softball we had to cool off and change before heading to Chevy's for a dinner with part of BF's extended family.  More food!  It was delicious as always (wish I could make that salsa!) and afterwards we went to BF's parents house to socialize more with the fam and eat some homemade treats.  We went home to rescue the dog from boredom after a while.  He got so excited that we were home that he ran circles around us when we walked in the door, drank entirely too much water, and then jumped up on the couch and puked on my sweater and on the couch while I was reading.   

I was out cold a few minutes after getting into bed and didn't even wake up to move until this morning. 

It's going to be a busy week, I can tell, but probably a good one.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Excuse This "Type A Personality" Rant for a Moment

I'm sorry, but I've got to get it off my chest...


Dear Coworkers and Peers,

If you haven't noticed by now, I do not get paid your salary on top of mine which means that I do NOT do your job, even if you ask nicely.  Even if you don't know how to do it.  Even if your boss asks me (because they aren't my boss). I know that I do a lot of things and you may be confused to my actual role, but I'm not confused and neither are my managers and I can say no.  Oh wait, that's right, I can say no to the things you are asking me to do because I have my own job and my own schedule to keep.

You  may also think that some of my job duties are performed well by me and that it would be easy for me to do a similar thing for you. But again, not the case.  If something in your department/geography/group needs to be done it's your responsibility to do it.  I know I've coordinated similar events to the ones you are supposed to be doing and they were successful, but that doesn't mean that I am responsible for ALL events- only the ones in my department/geography/group. 

I try to anticipate what questions you may have and information you may need and neatly compile links, resources and How To's frequently for you to keep and reference so that when it's your turn to do something similar you don't have to start from scratch.  I do not have to do this, I'm doing it to be helpful so you don't spend hours researching something the way I had to.  I would appreciate it if you actually looked at and read those resources/links/How To's so you don't call or email me incessantly when you are trying to get your projects together and have "Urgent Questions".  Again, about 99% of the time your questions have already been answered in one of my communications that you forgot about or deleted. 

Another thing that I've not been appreciating is the idea you have about dictating my schedule.  A few times recently I have found notes or emails regarding trainings and conference calls that you've volunteered me to lead.  I have my own schedule to keep and you do not know it so the hour notice for a training you set up that I'm expected to execute is just plain rude.  If there is a need and you all feel that I am the one to lead the charge on a training, etc then how about partnering with me on it and we can collaborate to figure out trainings, times and calls the suite everyone's schedules. 

It all boils down to the following:

1.  I am not your mom.
2.  I cannot read minds.
3.  I don't get paid to do your job, you do.
4.  Work together and share.
5.  If you're not organized it's not my problem.  You're an adult.

Regards,

Heather

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

What Happens in Vegas...


...happens because of the Food Network.



I'm in sunny Vegas this week for work! Yay, I get to see some summer weather this year, although it's not in Oregon.  This week has been pretty packed with meetings so far, but last night we split up into groups by work territory and went to dinner.  My group picked Tao, to my delight, for dinner.  I had first heard about Tao on the Food Network show, "Best Thing I Ever Ate...".  That particular episode featured the Chilean Sea Bass over asparagus from Tao and ever since I've wanted to go.  Lucky for me my work peers wanted to go as well.


It was a pretty interesting night because Tao also has an adjoining nightclub so the mix of people there was kind of funny. We were seated and instead of ordering separate dishes, we decided to do a family style 3 course meal.  It. Was. Fabulous.  Everything we ate I absolutely loved.  It was also SPENDY.  I will not tell you how much it cost for a group of 7 to eat dinner, but it was almost my 2 week paycheck. 



Giant Buddha in the center of the restuarant


Since it was a group dinner we decided to have the dinner served family style in 3 courses instead of everyone ordering separate dishes.  The first course was a Kobe beef tartar, a Tuna tartar, and a chicken potsticker.  I was hesitant to try to Kobe beef since it is RAW MEAT, however I was pleasantly surprised and truly enjoyed it.  The flavor was akin to a very rare steak instead of the bloody-iron taste I exptected.  The potstickers and the tuna were excellent as well.


The second course was a sushi and sashimi course.  They brought Kobe beef and avocado rolls, and Surf and Turf roll with Kobe beef and assorted fish, and then a shrimp roll with fish.  All were fabulous and I would have been happy to eat more of the same for the main course.

The main course was immense.  I wasn't expecting that much food and was already pretty full  when it came.  We were served thinly sliced marinated Kobe beef (I think it was just seared) with shitake mushrooms, pork fried rice, Kung Pao chicken, Thai chicken, Chinese sausage fried rice and Chilean Sea Bass over asparagus.  I was in absolute heaven.  That Chilean sea bass was like butter.  No joke.  Every single dish was amazing. 

I pulled the waiter aside at one point and let him know that we were also celebrating the promotion of my NEW BOSS, Ryan, and I wanted to have a little something special sent to him at the end of our meal.  The wait staff blew me away and brought Ryan a chocolate pudding parfait and a huge tray of special desserts for the table to share, free of charge.  There was a giant fortune cookie filled with vanilla and chocolate mousse, coconut ice cream and a fortune for each person at the table, little milk/dark/white chocolate Buddhas, chocolate ganache filled "spring rolls" with citrus dipping sauce and a few other little cookie and chocolate items that I couldn't identify. 


I would definitely go back, but I think I can only afford the Chilean Sea Bass and one other item... but totally worth it.
Mini chocolate Buddha... too cute!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

The Rudy has The Fleas

Oh. My. Goodness.

I'm feeling totally guilty and negligent about our little puppy this week because the poor guy has fleas.  This is a tragedy and also sending me into panic mode... I all but bug-bombed our home last night.

It started as a typical Wednesday night.  BF and I finished eating dinner and sat down on the couch to watch some tv with Rudy before heading to the gym.  The dog had been acting super jumpy and aggitated but we couldn't figure out what was going on.  Rudy had climbed in between BF and I on the couch and rolled over to have his "tummy rubs" that he loves so much.  As we were petting his stomach I noticed a single black dot that started to move.  I tried to pinch it out of Rudy's fur, but it was too quick.  I quickly jumped up and grabbed a flea comb from Rudy's box of stuff (more on that later) and ran back to comb through his fur.  Sure enough I found 3 live fleas!  BF told me that Rudy had been scratching his hind-end a lot earlier that morning but he didn't think much of it since we bathe him pretty regularly and give him monthly Frontline treatments from the vet.

We figured that Rudy must have got it from playing in fields of tall grass that we walk through on our evening walks with him.  Like I said, he's bathed regularly and given monthly flea treatments. None of the other dogs he plays with have them either, but I still cannot help but feel responsible.  He's itchy and uncomfortable and I just feel bad for him.

I immediately ran to the store and bought flea wash and spray for Rudy and carpet and upholstry spray for the house- who KNEW what had been infected.   And who knew that flea shampoo, spray and carpet spray would set me back about $40!  But I figure it was necessary.  We promptly threw Rudy into the tub and soaped him up generously.  As he was drying I took the carpet/upholstry flea spray and sprayed Rudy's bed, the couch, all of the areas Rudy like to hang out in and then under our bed because Rudy frequently crawls under there to sleep when he's tired of his own bed. 


Rudy getting a bath.  This wasn't from last night, but the only pathetic bath picture of him we have during a weekly bathing session.

It became a cleaning frenzy and I stripped our bed and washed all of our sheets, blankets, pillows and comforter with HOT water and a little bleach just in case any had found their way to our bed (even though Rudy is not allowed on the bed you never know... plus, like I said he's frequently under it).  Then I started pulling stuff out of corners in our room and dusting/vacuuming EVERTHING.  Once I was done with the bedroom and main living areas I took some bug spray and sprayed the perimeter of our place, our porch and around all of our windows (outside, of course). 

BF continued on to the gym, but I stayed behind and cleaned... once I get going on a project it's hard for me to break away until I finish!  I then moved on to the extra bedroom and started packing up items that BF and I are going to store (seasonal things that are taking up space but that we want to keep for holidays and for winter/cold months). 

By the time BF got home I felt much better about our situation.  Rudy was still a little itchy but I think all of the fleas are gone or on their death bed.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Rose City 'Till I Die

BF and I on the Budweiser Balcony with Timber Joey


AHHHHHHH!


Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to take myself and BF to the Portland Timbers vs. LA Galaxy game.  Though I support my team through and through, I was a little nervous about how we'd perform against the number one ranked MLS team. 

We got to sit in the Budweiser Balcony, which was fully catered so all we had to do was show up with our Timbers pride and enjoy the evening.  Before the game and after finding a pretty convenient parking spot, I hit up the Timbers Army merch van to buy a crest shirt since they aren't branded (meaning I will NOT wear an Adi shirt, even if it is to support my favorite team) and since I recently joined the TA and the 107ist organization I figured I sort of needed one anyway.  We headed into Jeld Wen stadium to find our seats. 

Once we were settled we dug into a barbeque dinner (chicken breast, pulled pork, cole slaw, the works!) and enjoyed the sun, although it did get a bit warm.  Once the game started the air was electric and we were lucky enough to be right next to the Timbers Army seating so we could participate in all of the cheers and chants.

About 26 minutes in we scored.  It took me a second to realize that we had actually done it!  A few minutes later we scored again and then I got so nervous ( I don't know why, it's not like I was playing).  I didn't want to be overly confident that we had this game nailed, but it was so hard not to be ecstatic.  Our boys did an amazing job and were super aggressive.  We had a few more great shots, but nothing else until the second half.   We scored again in the 2nd half and I just couldn't believe it; we were 3-0 against the best team in the league!  With confidence and energy the Timbers held the Galaxy off and even managed a few more great shots before the game was over.

The crowd was deafening and I was thoroughly enjoying the evening.  BF and I stayed and watched Timber Joey give the chainsawed rounds to the scoring members of the team and present them to the crowd.  It was a fantastic evening and I am totally addicted to these games!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Nehalem, Pizza and the Importance of a Pillow

Oregon is beautiful right now.  In a way, I'm sort of glad that summer was a little slow to start because usually we are in the middle of heat waves and the only time I feel comfortable is when I'm in a cold shower or in my air conditioned car... but this year not so much. 

Over the weekend BF and I took Rudy to Nehalem Bay to camp.  We only stayed 1 night, but Rudy had a blast exploring the campsite and running wild on the beach.

Beach Rudy!

He ran himself ragged, which was good because when we got home he was super mellow and just napped the rest of the evening. 

We honestly didn't do much in Nehalem.  BF and I had decided ahead of time that we didn't want to cook our dinner the first night since it was "cheat meal" night, so we did a little research and landed on a pizza place in Seaside (only 25 miles away) called Angelina's.  We called ahead and told them where we were driving from so they wouldn't sit there waiting for us to arrive.  It was hands down, the best pizza I've eaten in a long time.  Not that I eat a lot of pizza, but you know,  DARN GOOD. 

The one thing that went awry on our little getaway was that we forgot to bring our pillows.  I always forget how important a good pillow is for a good night's sleep.  Needless to say we didn't get a lot of restful sleep and woke up with slightly sore/stiff necks and shoulders. 

This week should be nice and easy because almost everyone is on vacation until next week.  Can we say awesome?